The warden at my local reserve thinks adder numbers go up and down each season with the weather, he does tend to say things like 'its been a good year for adder' as if the numbers suddenly increased over night.

Bahadurpur (Yamunanagar), September 23Thousands of people of Bilaspur block witnessed what most people watch on Discovery or National Geographic television channels. It was the rarest of rare sites.

A 20-foot Indian python had squeezed the life out of a 40-kg domestic goat and was swallowing it in the Sunderpur-Bahadhur jungles here.

By this evening, the whole goat was swallowed and the reptile had disappeared in the jungles.

The jungles have a heavy growth and thus it is very difficult to venture in.

However, several kutcha tracks were created in the jungles with the movement of thousands people, including women and children who went in the woods to catch a glimpse of the snake and goat. The jungles are about 3 km from Bahadurpur village.

Sources in the Wildlife Department said the reptile died this afternoon. It was suspected that the death took place because the ˘prey was too big and the goatĂs horn turned out to be fatal÷ for the snake.

Another official said the reptile died because people disturbed him and he could swallow the goat. The snake was buried in the ground.

It all started last afternoon.

Like any other day, shepherd Sileman of Sundepur village had taken his goats to the jungles. One of the goat strayed. He never knew a python, about 20-foot, was lying in waiting. He went in the search of his goat. And to his horror, he saw the fearsome python with a light and dark patterned skin struggling to engulf his goat. ˘It grabbed the goat with a quick lash of itĂs head and wrapped itself around the goat and squeezed the life out of the goat,÷ recalled Sileman and added, ˘My goat was dead and the azgar (python) started swallowing the goat from the head.÷

By this morning, the news spread. Everyone wanted to see it. ˘Women too did not want to be left behind and they turned in large numbers to see the python÷, said Akram, a villager.

Villagers said about 35 or 40 years ago, a python had killed several small domestic animals in the Kathgarh area.

Sources in the Wildlife Department said pythons (a nocturnal creature) drape across tree branches, camouflaged by their skin, wait to ambush their next meal. A large python could squeeze the life out of a deer and could then swallow it whole. ˘Pythons rarely attack humans but they are capable of doing the same,÷ said an official.

A python may live more than 20 years.

As per a website pathons are solitary creatures, but males and females seek each other out to mate. The female coils about her eggs to incubate them. Young pythons have many natural enemies, including eagles, crocodiles, large cats such as leopards and tigers, and hyenas.

Causes of endangerment of the species include their killing. Humans had been killing pythons out of fear, for food, skins and blood believed to have medical values and of course the on the account of habitat loss.

A 20-foot python trying to swallow a 40-kg goat on Sunday which it had preyed on Saturday in the jungles of Sunderpur-Bahadurpur in Yamunanagar. The snake, however, died on Sunday. ¨ A Tribune photograph

New Delhi, November 25 Zoologists
claimed to have discovered a new species of legless amphibian in
northern Karnataka which vacates its marshy habitat at the slightest
hint of pollution.

Two independent
researchers, who teamed up with scientists from the Zoological Survey
of India, came across the unique species at the Mahadayi Wildlife
Sanctuary which falls in the biodiversity-rich western Ghats region.

˘It
is commonly known as a two-headed snake but a closer look brings out
the ringed nature of the amphibian creature,÷Gopalkrishna Bhatta, an
independent researcher, told PTI from Shimoga in Karnataka.

K
P Dinesh of the Zoological Survey of India, P Prashanth of the Agumbe
Rain forest Research Station and Goa-based independent researcher,
Nirmal Kulkarni, took part in the study.

˘We recently collected three specimens resembling each other which fit the generic diagnosis for genus
Gegeneophis, but which differ from all known species,÷ they said in ŠCurrent ScienceĂ.

A
new species of caecilian, a legless amphibian, has been named
Gegeneophis mhadeiensis. It is described on the basis of three
specimens collected from the surroundings of Rameshwar temple in Chorla
village of Belgaum district. The locality is situated adjacent to the
Mahadayi Wildlife Sanctuary.

The creature feeds in earthworms and other decaying material and helps enriching the soil, Bhatta said.

With
10 named species, Gegenophis is now one of the most diverse caecilian
genera that reaffirms the sensitivity of the locality as a biodiversity
hotspot.

G mhadeiensis, the
zoological name of the species, can also be used as a bio-indicator for
the region. ˘This species vacates the place of its stay the moment it
begins to get polluted,÷ Bhatta said. The very presence of this species
in an area signifies the rich organic content of the locality. ¨ PTI

Where do they get the info re venom being strongest in the spring, I don't think that there is any evidence to support this.

This information has appeared in the press a number of times. I think the source was a statement made by a veterinarian who had made a link between a higher canine fatality rate in the spring from adder bite. I think this might even be published on the web if anybody can find it.

I suspect there are simply more bites in the spring due to adders lying out and getting surprised by dogs - though if it is a case that there are a greater number of a fatilities for the number of bites presented in the spring there could be something in it.

I wonder if Wolfgang could enlighten us as to whether there is any biological evidence to support the observation that the venom would be more potent after hibernation?

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